Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-12-23

not tell you. Ask Mr. BTudenel"
Very good This was reasonable. Mr..
Brudenel had not connected Paul with
the cheques he remembered nothing at
all about them.
LET u.s." said Tom, "see the cheques"
They were in the pocket of the Bank
Book. They were drawn in Mr. Brude-
nel's own handwriting-6rm,. clear,
straight up and down-a handwriting
which was difficult to initiate. There
could be no doubt at all that they were all
drawn and signed by himself. They were
made payable to order and were crossed.
They were also endorsed. They were
therefore paid into some bank, not across
the counter. Tom replaced the cheques
in the pocket and put book ana all into his
own pocket, saying nothing.
Am l." said Mr.. Brudenel, dropping
into a chair, 1.-THE sport of the Spirits Is
it theirrevenge upon me for deserving their
Cause ?"
ooh !" Cicely clapped her hands. why
do we make such fuss Why do we
doubt? Why do we fear Paul told us
that we must send for the Bank Book.
Only let us have little faith ~
But Tom laid his hand upon the breast
pocket of his coat in which lay the Bank
Book and the cheques. And he tapped
that pocket rs much as to initiate that
Faith, even when taken in large quaint
ties, wonld not render inquiry unneces
sary,
CHAPTER X THE FIRST INvEsTIGA
T1oN.
1t was the morning after.
On the morning after a storm, as every
body knows who has been wrecked at sea-
the sun always breaks gloriously, the sky
is clear, the air is soft and balmy, though
the sea may heave and be still unquiet
The shares were sold. That was the first
thing. 1t was like escaping in an open
boat from a sinking ship. But all the
money was mysteriously conveyed away
into the hands of three unknown persons
one of them certainly the Instructor, but
hitherto the unseen Instructor, of Mr.
Brudenel, and all three stated by Paul to
be his own personal friends. This was
like the dangerous heavng of the boat
No one knew what might happen with
those uncertain factors in the problem
That was like having no port within a
thousand miles, yet to be lying in the
track of vessels.
After breakfast, Sibyl followed Tom to
his workshop.
"No one comes here, Dodo," he said :.
I'VE can talk as much as we please, undis-
turbed. My dear Dodo, what sh III we do
if the money is all gone ?"
"You will make yourself great name,
Tom, and will watch and perhaps
you will get tired of waiting"
my dearest Dodo, if you look so sweet
| shall get tired OF waiting Immediately"
These are the marks which show that
what followed is irrelevant and beneath
the dignity of the historian. They are al
so symbols which silly lovers in the hum
bier walks, wnere they are less eloquent
in words than the better educated, use as
tokens to show the depth and intensity of
their parsion their fidelity, and their con
stancy. Like all symbols they fall very
short of the reality.
"And now, Tom, let us talk soberly.
You said you had quantities of things to
tell me-"
"Quantities, Dodo? None of them half
so important rs the things | have just told
you as that To-"
mo, Tom; not again. Let US proceed to
business"
"Well, then, If one must. We are per-
suaded, are we not, that this fellow Paul
l wish didn't like the beasts at the
bottom of the whole business ?"
perfectly certain"
"For some purpose of his own we are as
| sured that he has decided the whole thing
| how, we are not yet certain"
I'VE are agreed so far, Tom. | am also
off the whole of this money"
There we differ. | am convinced that
his was the hand that executed, and his
the head that planned the whole plot,
| But am not so sure that he means to
stick to this money. 1t would be Il coup
too audaclous even for man who sends
another to Abyssinia and back all in a
single morning"
Then what does he do it for ~
81 don't quite know. I've watched
Paul ever since he came here, and I've
talked with him nearly every night in
this room. Dodo, / like him, and believe
in him. That is believe that he has not
come here after money"
my dear Tom, they all come after
money"
"He knows that am watching him and
trying to find out he does it. We always
talk on that assumption. 1t is under
| stood"
"W no is this man, Tom, that he should
be different from the Emanuel Chicks
and the rest Of them ?"
"He is an American. OF that | have
not the least doubt. Not that such Il fact
lifts necessarily above old Chick. DO you
know, however, that there Is certain
kind of American who Graves for notoriety
above all things There are plenty over
here who would give good deal for no
torety. but with the American kind it is q
craze. Paul is one them. He has betray-
ed himself to me hundred times. He
cannot bear the thought of being one OF
the common herd, to live unnoticed and to
be forgotten as soon as he is dead. He
wants distinction"
ooh what distinction One OF the
tribe of impostors who pretend to super
natural powers"
Perhaps nature did not give him the
| qualities which go TO make man sue
| cessful on the ordinary lines. But then,
on the other haRd, she gave him more
than his share Of nervous qulckness, so
that he sees at once while ordinary PEG.
pie are only feeling their way"
well ."
"Then-I have been reading up the sub
ject lately. ! used to laugh at it. There
is the power called mesmerism, about
which so much nonsense has been written.
1t is real power, though go little under
control that physicians refuse to use it,
| Paul has that power. and he has developed
it. You saw, Sibyl, how he acted upon
Cicely and Hetty,"
Eyes. He mesmerised them"
| "He made them think as he pleased